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MONDAY, JANUARY 7, 2002

Watching City Hall

by h. brown

Here come the preacher, the farmer & the cop … one thing’s for certain, it ain’t never gonna stop when it gets too heavy … well they come & then they go … with only one thing in common … they got the fire down below.
— Bob Seger

Do you think that land and trees and buildings get permeated with the events that take place on, in & around them? I sure do. Let me give you this example.

Last evening I was looking out the window & I noticed a big white Ford pull up across the street. This hooker & her two pimps got out & started plying the trade, using the car as a mobile whorehouse. They were sitting right in front of the newest building in the neighborhood, a twelve-unit building of loft housing going for up to around $500,000 per.

That kind of struck me as ironic. Because, you see, before the space across the street became loft housing, it was a parking lot with a pay phone for the dealers and pimps and a white Ford van that was a semi-permanent “comfort” station for the hookers. Sighhhh … some things never change.

And speaking of whores reminds me that it’s time to check the balance of power at City Hall as a new year begins.

Willie rules

Name any area. Nothing’s changed. I was watching Tony Irons before the Finance Committee before Christmas and he reminded me so much of Lucy trying to get Charlie Brown to try and kick the football. He was trying to get Finance to release around 30 million in remaining cash from the batch of 100 million or so passed by the voters a few years ago and most of which has already been wasted. The committee passed it.

The airport shills announced that they were continuing to spend millions on consultants and studies and other things related to their push for new runways. No matter that the voters clearly spoke against expansion into the Bay in November.

The new “progressive” board couldn’t get recreational visits to the Marina for little black and brown kids because Gavin Newsom & his rich friends at the yacht clubs disapproved.

Bechtel & James Jefferson continue to cash millions in city checks for the “Water Alliance” that the new board vowed to stop. New PUC head Pat Martel ignored the board’s order to prepare a new RFP in the event they chose to sever the deal the last board made (Budget Analyst Harvey Rose called the first version of the Bechtel deal “a straight giveaway”). Martel instead spoke of preparing to go for billions in bonds while feeding the Bechtel/Jefferson tumor as it intertwines itself. When pressed, Martel said it could take up to a year to get an RFP together. The committee backed down.

Matt Gonzalez couldn’t get four supervisors with the nerve to put a revamp of the gangster-ridden Housing Authority on the ballot next March. Scared by pure old physical intimidation.

Old people are being carted out of the public housing at Fisherman’s Wharf.

A greedy developer is preparing to demolish the Japan Bowl and put in housing for the rich.

Whole antenna fields are growing like mushrooms, radiating school children.

A move is afoot to close Harding Golf Course against public wishes and the last horses are being carted from the Golden Gate Stables.

It was not a good year for the people. The rich got their taxes lowered and the poor lost their jobs. Elections were rigged on every level. Greedy realtors drove out more thousands of the poor, with many ending up in the streets.

On the up side

I got approved for the very minimal unemployment insurance compensation. While I look for another gig, I’ll have $101 a week to live on for nineteen weeks.

The new Elections Commission will begin to reshape the Department of Elections. The 49ers are vastly entertaining.

The alternative media are growing and the major dailies are weakening.

The cats are healthy and there’s snow in the Sierra.

It could be worse.

Party on: sobone@juno.com